


new situations and barbie shoes

by PilotInTheStars



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Post-Ant-Man (2015), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Stepmother-Stepdaughter Relationship, anyone who played with barbies knows those shoes get lost EVERYWHERE, blended families - Freeform, i yet again force hope to confront her issues, in the process of blending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27446443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotInTheStars/pseuds/PilotInTheStars
Summary: Hope's life seems to be changing in ways she never expected it to. And she's most definitely going to screw it up.
Relationships: Cassie Lang & Hope Van Dyne, Hope Van Dyne & Maggie Lang, Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne
Kudos: 53





	new situations and barbie shoes

**Author's Note:**

> A special thank you to @sharknana29 for her awesome beta-ing skills, constant support, and for helping me with the title of this fic! You're the best.

After Hope and Scott had kissed in her dad’s house, Hope thought that would be the end of it. 

It was from the adrenaline of it all, it was from the relief. _This_ could never happen between them, for logistical reasons, of course.

Maybe not entirely, but she was terrible at relationships, always had been. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in anything steady. It wasn’t worth her time and it wasn’t worth getting ghosted again.

He had just gotten out of prison, where he’d been separated from his daughter, and Hope knew how important Cassie was to him. He would be focused on finding a job and paying his child support and rekindling that relationship. And he did exactly as he should have, she didn’t expect anything less of him. 

It was supposed to be a fluke. It wasn’t supposed to work out. They should have thanked each other and moved on.

And yet, they both stuck around and Hope couldn’t figure out why.

Everything felt fragile, ready to shatter at a moment. Granted, that was how most new relationships were, but it had been a long time since she’d been in one. And in her limited dating experience, she certainly hadn’t dated someone with kids before. 

Hope was certain she was going to fuck it up.

They had agreed it was best to ease Cassie into it, especially after everything- Scott getting out of prison, a supervillain blasting a hole through the ceiling of her room, and Maggie and Paxton getting married in a few months. 

And who knew if it would even work out in the end. But it kept working out, maybe to Hope’s surprise. 

* * *

Hope pulled her car up to the address Scott had texted her. She expected that this was definitely where she was supposed to be, considering it was a playground. And sure enough, she saw a little girl on the swings, donned with a floral headband and a fluffy skirt, Scott standing beside her. 

To say she felt nervous was a bit of an understatement, and it had taken her a week to build up the courage to finally meet Cassie. _Why did she feel this worried?_

She stepped out, locked her car doors, and took a breath.

Scott noticed her and gave a wave. 

“Hey Peanut, this is the friend of mine I wanted you to meet.”

Cassie gave a wave to Hope.

“Your dad’s mentioned you a lot. It’s nice to meet you.”

Cassie nodded. 

The rest of it all just seemed to be a blur, even though she left after five minutes, which was what their plan was. 

“I fucked that up,” Hope said to Scott later, when she was back at his apartment, Cassie back at her mother's. 

“You didn’t.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be hard on yourself. Everything went fine.” 

And reflecting on it later, maybe it did go fine. Hope just wanted it to keep going that way.

* * *

“Hey, so…” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, holding his phone in the other hand as he walked into the room. “I got an interesting text from Maggie and Paxton.”

Hope lifted her head from the pillow. “Hm?”

“They were wondering if they could possibly meet you sometime.” 

Hope blinked. “Uh… is there any reason why?”

“I mentioned that you had met Cassie, because they’d want to know, and they’d like to get to know you since… well, I guess things are more serious.”

“Oh.”

Hope paused for a moment, sitting up. Scott sat next to her on the bed.

“Hey, if you don’t want to meet them yet, I totally get that. I’ll make up some excuse, maybe your dog has surgery or something.”

“I don’t have a dog though, Scott.”

“But it’s a good excuse.”

Hope shook her head but she smiled. “No, no I’ll meet them. I want to- it’s probably best that I do. Now that I’ve met Cassie.”

Scott grinned at her. “We’re in this together.”

They went to Maggie and Paxton’s house that next week for dinner. Maggie greeted them at the door, a smile on her face. Cassie stood behind her, dashing past to hug her dad. She looked up at Hope and gave a little wave. Hope waved back.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hope.” Maggie shook her hand. 

It went better than Hope could have ever expected. But she was the pessimist in the situation, or at least, she was compared to Scott. 

Conversation was civil and polite, Hope only felt completely out of place when Paxton asked about her own parents. 

“My dad’s around, you’ve probably heard of him.”

“Yeah, he paid for the damage in the roof,” Paxton said, looking up.

“Does your mother live near here?” Maggie asked.

Hope felt something flip in her stomach. “She passed when I was seven.”

Maggie gave a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright. It was a long time ago.”

Both of them were very nice, but Hope couldn’t shake what they were probably thinking. _Ah yes, the ex-felon and the now disgraced former chairwoman of a blown up tech company. This is a relationship that will definitely last._

She didn’t think she’s been this self conscious in a while, no matter how well it went. 

Scott nudged her leg with his own and she gave a quick glance at him. 

_I’ve got you._

He hadn’t abandoned her yet, like most everyone else did. But she didn’t expect much of anyone now. He would eventually. 

At the end of the night they thanked Maggie and Paxton, and Maggie pulled Hope aside and said how she was especially glad to meet her, and Hope had never been good with people, but she was pretty sure it was sincere. 

Cassie insisted on showing her dad the Lego creation she’d been working on, and Paxton helped her carry it out. 

“See, Daddy. It’s like when you saved me!” 

It was a recreation of what Hope assumed was Cassie’s room- evidenced the huge hole in the roof. Scott had told her about that. Hank had helped pay for repairs.

“It looks great, Peanut,” Scott told her, and Hope didn’t think she had seen him prouder. 

Scott drove them afterwards and at some point between the house and Hope’s apartment, they found themselves at McDonald’s, eating McFlurries in the parking lot.

Her jacket was in the backseat and she had kicked off her heels and the stars were out. If you asked her about it later, she would say it was nice.

“Well, I think that went pretty well,” Scott said. 

Hope nodded. 

“I just hope they liked me,” she said.

“I’m sure they did.” He beamed at her. That was Scott, always the optimist, always finding the best in everything and everyone.

Scott ended up crashing at her apartment, and they both overslept. Hope dashed out of bed when she remember she had to meet her father at the lab, and quickly got dressed, but Scott managed to give her one kiss before she headed out the door. 

* * *

“Hope!”

Hope looked up as Cassie walked over to the tiny dining room table in the apartment. She held up a Barbie doll, her face stricken. 

“I lost one of her shoes. Can you help me find it?”

“Where do you think it is, Cass?”

“I don’t know!” she insisted. “Can you help?”

Cassie was already on her way back to her room. Hope followed.

“I’ve looked everywhere for it.”

Hope found she was far too pragmatic with children. But she would try her best now.

“The shoe hasn’t left your room?”

“Nope.” Cassie frowned.

If there was a skill Hope was good at, it was finding things.

“Then it definitely has to be around here somewhere, huh? How about you start over in that corner, I’ll start here.”

That was what they did. Hope was the first to find it, tucked underneath the polkadotted bedskirt on Cassie’s bed.

“Found it.” She picked it up and held it out for Cassie and Cassie put it on her Barbie doll. 

Cassie beamed. “Thanks Hope.” She hesitated for a second, then stepped forward to give Hope a hug.

Hope, surprised but not upset, returned it. “Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
